With the season on the line Friday in Game 5, Malkin went berserk. He took two more mindless penalties and threw the puck around like a live hand grenade. Lucky for him that Staal, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and rest of the boys bailed him out.

The favorable result afforded Malkin the luxury of laughing about his collision with Crosby on a first-period power play. It might have been the best hit of the series.

"My fault," Malkin said. "He was controlling the puck. I thought it was loose. He was moving a little bit left. I can't stop. Too fast."